Its not that the unknown prize excited me, Its that given the community and its old players, an event like this one, spanning 2 weeks and regarding smuggling, with prizes announced at launch will generate an absurd amount toxic play, blockades and shadow logging, ship hopping from the player base which in return will mean a lot of work for the admins, that are currently swamped as it is with the bugs generated by the patch.
This event and its "missing" prizes, has shown the community interest and participation. The old rich players had nothing to do with it cause they had the credits, but once the prize was announced, voices rose up in rebellion: If I'd knew, I would've participated! and ask my buddies to hound and hunt the other players to ensure I win >> thus spoiling the fun for everyone else. Indeed, given the fact that the top 2 winners were a staff member and organizer and his best FL buddy throws some negative vibes >> Take this as positive feedback and learn to hide better or don't do it This whole line is a joke. I actually timed your travel through the systems to ensure that you weren't cheating.
Again: Kudos on the event and its hidden prizes. Better this way. Will not generate as much interaction as you want, but it will be enjoyable for everyone - given the community. And the server is already up to 200 max players with an average 50 players / day. So that's good.